By Timna Jacks & Clay Lucas

14 February 2018 — 11:05am

Furious opponents of a controversial level-crossing project have dramatically shut down a council meeting in Melbourne’s north-west, accusing the mayor of betraying local interests by voting down a motion to sue the Andrews government over the project.

"They went quite feral,” said Labor councillor Jim Cusack on Wednesday. He said there were about 150 opponents of the project at the meeting. “There was a big crowd. They took their gloves off and didn’t talk to the issue at all.”

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Opponents accused the council of failing to do everything to halt the $114 million road-under-rail project.

Four councillors attempted to put forward a motion to sue the Andrews government over the controversial Essendon level-crossing removal. Four other councillors voted against the plan.

Mayor John Sipek used his casting vote to stop any possible legal action.

A ninth councillor, Nicole Marshall – who is married to Labor MP Danny Pearson – sat out the vote.

The Level Crossing Removal Authority began preliminary works on the project this month.

The level crossing on Buckley Street in Essendon

Photo: Eddie Jim

The meeting was adjourned for five minutes following relentless taunts from the gallery. The yelling did not stop after council resumed the meeting, forcing it to be shut down.

The heavily politicised Essendon project has seen councillors who are either members of the Liberal Party or opponents of Labor opposing the road-under-rail Buckley Street level-crossing removal.

Some locals and several traders on Buckley Street are also opposed to the project because of the likely impacts it will have on businesses and getting around parts of the area.

Labor’s Cr Cusack, who is supportive of the project, said the possible legal action that was voted down was the first of 15 items on the agenda at the council meeting.

He said that the meeting “had a large contingent of people arrive from around the Essendon area” who opposed the project in its current form. They had erupted in anger when a decision was made against legal action, he said.

An artist's impression of the proposed level crossing.

Photo: Level Crossing Removal Authority

The council has accused the state government of excluding the council from the planning process, by classifying the project under the Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act, which grants the project special status.

Cr Sipek said he was seeking to meet with public transport minister Jacinta Allan soon.

“While I’m disappointed that the state government had signed contracts for the project with so many questions still remaining about the design and traffic impacts of the project, I’m determined to get the best outcome for the community," she said.

“But the reality is with contracts signed and works underway that legal action was unlikely to stop the project from going ahead and could potentially end up costing ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars with no tangible benefit.”

The boom gates are down at the Essendon level crossing for about 78 minutes in the morning peak.